The report of Fiji Human Rights Commission's Inquiry on the 2006 election, is yet to be released to the public according to a Radio New Zealand article.
The excerpt of the RNZ article:
New Fiji election not public, alleges vote-rigging
Posted at 05:22 on 19 September, 2007 UTC
The Fiji Human Rights Commission says the commission of inquiry report into Fiji’s 2006 general election has not yet been made public. Fiji TV reported last night that it obtained a copy of the report based on evidence given by 59 individuals and organisations.
It reported evidence of irregularities, bias, corruption, vote buying and vote rigging, and is also critical of the Elections Office. The commission says copies of the report have been given only to the state, the SDL party, and the Fiji Labour Party for review.
"The election was fair in terms of the international observers coming here and the report they gave and also the report prepared by the USP team. The big thing is that there was no protest after those or that report were publicly declared. But now they are coming up with new allegations that the elections was rigged and so on and so forth. That’s the problem right now."The University of the South Pacific’s Dr Alumita Durutalo has been an election observer since the 1990s. She says observers from the EU, Pacific Islands Forum, Commonwealth and the USP deemed the last election in Fiji to be free and fair.
However, a copy of the report was made available to Fiji TV. Another article from Radio NZ confirms that Fiji TV were given a copy of the FHRC report.
The excerpt:
Inquiry claims Fiji 2006 election was flawed by vote buying and vote rigging
Posted at 22:49 on 18 September, 2007 UTC
A commission of inquiry into Fiji’s 2006 general election claims to have found evidence of vote buying and vote rigging. The inquiry was initiated by the Fiji Human Rights Commission and chaired by Suva lawyer G P Lala, with the other members being the former president of the SVT party and Rabuka government minister, Taufa Vakatale, and Dr David Neilson.
Fiji TV says it has obtained a copy of the report which is based on evidence given by 59 individuals and organisations."The report claims it found evidence of irregularities, bias and corruption, as well as inappropriate vote influencing in the 2006 general election to the unfair advantage of the SDL party.
It says there was a concentration of all these factors in key urban constituencies. The report says there were significant failures to ensure citizens’ right to vote, in particular against ethnic Indian voters. "The report also criticises the Elections Office, saying there was a heavy ethnic bias in its employment of staff nearly all of whom were indigenous Fijians. The report has been sent to the interim government, the Fiji Labour Party and the SDL party for their responses.
All international election observers deemed the election to be free and fair.
The former Supervisor of Elections, Semesa Karavaki disputed the findings of the tribunal and described the Inquiry report as inaccurate because it brought up the issue of racial bias.
Karavaki even called into question the expertise of the tri-members in electoral procedures and exclaimed that the report also tarnishes the "Free and Fair" declaration stamped by the International Observers.
National Federation Party (NFP) stalwart, Parmod Rae declared the Inquiry report as a "load of rubbish" and took issue to "prominent and eminent persons like G.P. Lala, Taufa Vakatale putting their names to this piece of rubbish".
Rae further stated that, the Inquiry report into the 2006 Fiji Elections was not a report per say, but "allegations of vote buying and vote-rigging without evidentiary basis". Rae further added that, the 59 submissions were not proportionate to Fiji's number of voters, in excess of 500,000 persons.
FHRC's Dr Shaista Shameem also clarified the next series of steps for the tentative Inquiry report; stating that the draft report would be given to stakeholders for their comments and those additional comments will be taken into account by the Tribunal in their final report.
The Report Recommendations:
Radio Fiji article quoted from the Fiji Election Scoping Mission (FESM) preliminary report for the next General Elections in Fiji and stated that, the estimated cost may reach $F25 Million. FESM had tabled their report to the Pacific Islands Forum Joint Working Group(PIFJWG) in Suva yesterday.
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